Outsiders Pt. 06

He sat there for a long time, feeling numb inside. The girls had been three sexy rays of sunshine in his life and, with them gone, the dark clouds of doubts and worries gathered in his mind, obscuring the very idea of hope. He was all alone. He had no one he could turn to and the fate of the entire world rested on his shoulders and his shoulders alone.

Felicia was still with him, but a familiar was of limited tactical value and he had already decided not to take her into battle with him. Her loss would also bring him a loss of experience points and that could knock him back to level nineteen, costing him his Shapechange spell and all the power that came with it.

His head fell back as he slid lower in his seat. He couldn't see the point in fighting on, anymore. Even if he did, by some miracle of chance, win against the evil, what would that bring him? He could see no happiness for himself looming on the horizon. There would be no prizes, no parades, not even a passing, "thanks for saving the world."

His unfocused gaze lingered on the ceiling as images of the three beauties he had chased away occupied his mind's eye. He had had the key to happiness in his grasp. He had had happiness, genuine happiness and he had let it slip away.

"Because I was weak," he whispered to the empty apartment.

Ben wasn't sure how long he just sat there, staring past the ceiling tiles at a sky he couldn't see and doing no more than blinking occasionally. He was wallowing in misery, but he was also growing more and more bored by the minute. There was no point in continued wallowing. He most certainly wasn't going to spend the rest of his days just sitting around moping. He resolved to have as much fun before March as he could.

A yawn escaped him. He wiped his face and sighed as he sat up. Tomorrow, he was going to discern the girls' locations and teleport to them; not to win them back, but simply to apologize and make things right. Give them money and teleport them where they wanted to go. But that was tomorrow. Today he needed sleep.

He yawned and debated himself over whether to fall asleep right there, on the couch, or to make the effort to go upstairs and stretch himself out on a bed. He needed to finally catch his forty winks, both to clear up the persistent, dull throb in the back of his head and to restore his spent spell slots. His eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep.

He was startled awake by the sound of his door opening. He grumbled and moaned incoherently as he tried to wipe the fog of sleep from his eyes and make out the figures entering his apartment.

"Ben," Lisa called out cheerfully, "you're here!"

His head throbbed as he squinted at the three blurry figures at the door. "You look like shit," Krista said with compassion in her voice. "Did you get any sleep today?"

Ben finally managed to visually confirm that the girls had walked into the apartment. He shook his head no once and tried to say that he didn't, but the sounds that came out of his pursed lips were more like something a drunk dolphin would say.

"You need to get some sleep," Krista said. The girls set down their shopping bags and walked over to him.

Ben cleared his throat and said, "I thought you were left. Gone. I mean to say. Gone. Left."

"We just left to run some errands," Lisa said. "We didn't expect you until later."

Raven and Krista grabbed him under his arms and pulled him upright. "Come on," Krista said, "it's sleepy time."

Ben let himself be led towards the stairs and said, "Wait, I need to say I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's okay," Raven said, "you'll tell us tomorrow!"

The girls led him to the nearest bedroom and made him sit down on the bed. "I didn't mean to blow up at you girls like that," Ben said. "I'm so ashamed."

"It's ok," Raven said. "We get it. You were stressed, you hadn't had enough sleep, you had fought the undead and Krista slapped you. Shit happens. It was no biggie."

"No," Ben protested. "I mean, yes, but I-"

"What you need to do," Raven said and knelt before him, "is relax and get some sleep." She undid his belt and zipper. She smiled up at him. "And I know how to relax you." She squeezed his dick in his boxers, cutting off his second attempt at an apology and making him groan as his dick started to swell in response to her touch. She gently massaged his growing organ and then slipped it out of his underwear.

Ben lay back with a sigh when she lowered her face to his crotch. Her warm breath preceded her wet tongue on the head of his cock. She lathered up his glans with her spittle. She pumped his shaft with one hand and swept her golden hair off her face with the other. She looked him in the eye and smiled before bending down to swallow his cock. Her pursed lips pushed his foreskin down and allowed her flicking tongue to tickle his most sensitive flesh.

He groaned loudly and his hips started to pump of their own accord, driven by the rush of pleasure she was giving him. He closed his eyes and grabbed fistfuls of the sheets. Just as he was about to pop, she lifted her head. Ben shouted in wordless protest at the loss of stimulation. He opened his eyes and raised his head to see Krista and Lisa finish taking off Raven's underwear. She was naked from the waist down and she quickly scooted higher on the bed to stand on her knees. She reached down and held his cock steady as she lowered herself upon it.

Ben let out a long, heady sigh as she sank lower and lower until she was sitting on his hips. She leaned forward and propped herself up against his shoulders. Her golden hair fell down around their faces, isolating them from the rest of the world. She smiled at him and started to squeeze his cock with her pelvic muscles. He groaned and his hips flexed by reflex. She began to grind herself around, stimulating her own pleasure points with his shaft buried deep inside herself.

Lisa and Krista reached between the two and undid the buttons on Raven's blouse. She sat up and squeezed Ben's cock yet again, making him groan. The girls took off her blouse and bra and Ben reached up to squeeze her bountiful tits.

They laughed breathy laughs as they met each other squeeze for squeeze. When she started to grind again, he went from squeezing her mounds to massaging them. Raven's breathing quickened and she again leaned forward to lock eyes with Ben. She started bouncing up and down his cock and he growled as his need for release was finally being addressed. His fingers focused on fondling her nipples. He wanted to make her cum like never before. He needed to feel her writhe in ecstasy.

It took all of his willpower to stop himself from cumming too soon. Raven's bouncing sped up and became erratic as her yelps turned into short screams of ecstasy. She slammed her hips down on him one last time and came with a shriek. The fluttering of her cunt sent Ben over the edge and he emptied his balls into her quivering womb.

He passed out in pleasure.

His wakeup was a slow, protracted affair. His whole body seemed to be very hesitant to respond to his commands. He squinted one eye open and glanced around. Only after he saw he was in one of the bedrooms of his penthouse apartment did his brain finish booting up and grant him a clear memory of yesterday. He stretched in bed for a few minutes, to get his limbs to cooperate fully. He squinted at the window. The shades were drawn, but it was daylight outside. He rolled over and fumbled around for his phone. He found it on the floor, in the pocket of his pants.

It was seven a.m. and he realized that he had slept for almost fifteen straight hours. He stretched again and then rose from the bed. All his spell slots were replenished and he felt perfectly fine. He cast Prestidigitate and cleaned up his clothes from the day before. He laid them out on his bed, the sheets of which he also cleaned, and took a shower to finish waking up.

After a quick shave, he went downstairs to the kitchen, where the girls were busy with breakfast.

"Good morning," he said.

They turned around and smiled as one. "Good morning," they said in unison.

"Did you sleep well," Raven asked.

Ben chuckled and said, "More than well."

"I think I should put you to sleep in that manner every night from now on," Raven teased. "Might keep the crankiness away."

Ben made a sour grin. "About that," he said. "I'm truly sorry I yelled at you yesterday. It was nothing you girls did. I-"

"Ben," Krista said, cutting him off, "I'm the one that should apologize, not you. I had no call to slap you and yell at you like I did yesterday. I'm sorry for that."

"No," he said, "you had a point. I should have thought to use the domination spell to let you know what was going on."

"Oh, for frakk's sake, give it a rest, you two," Lisa said. "Tensions ran high and shit went down. We all reacted in a way we're not proud of. Let's just put it all behind us and work on our communication so it doesn't happen again. Ok?"

Everyone nodded. Ben said, "Well said."

"Food's up," Raven called and began doling out omelets and stacks of pancakes. They sat down and had a slow, leisurely breakfast. The only conversation they had was made up of compliments to Raven's culinary skills.

After breakfast was mostly consumed, Krista sat back in her chair and said, "Lisa made a good point just now. We need to work out some things. Our domination spells have all expired. Do you intend to cast them again?"

Ben shook his head no. "But you're cool with us staying with you," Raven asked. Lisa and Krista leaned slightly forward in their seats in anticipation of his answer.

"Yes," Ben said, "I'd love it if you girls stayed with me. Of your own free will." The three beauties smiled beaming smiles. "Will you?"

All three nodded earnestly. "Hell yeah," Raven added.

"We'll even fight with you," Lisa said. "I mean, alongside you. Against the evildoers."

"I got it," Ben said with a smile.

"However," Krista said and paused, "if you intend to allow us to fight, then you should really brief us on the full extent of your powers. For instance, you mentioned reading the minds of half of Philadelphia the other night?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah, it's an ability I've gained recently. I can shapechange into a Djinni and read minds while I'm invisible."

"A Djinni," Lisa asked, astounded. "Can you grant wishes?"

"Uh, sadly, no," Ben said. "Only noble Djinn can grant wishes when they're captured by someone. I had a one percent chance of turning into a noble Djinni, but it didn't come true. If it had, I would have given you girls the power to capture me and use me repeatedly for three wishes each. That would enable me to cast the Wish spell and deal with the evil cult, without expending a terrible amount of experience points for it."

"Experience points," Lisa asked. "Are you thinking of your magical power in D&D terms?"

"I am," he said. "But only because that is the magic I have." The girls looked at him in puzzlement. "I need my books." He went to his office space and retrieved his Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual.

The girls quickly cleared the dining table and moved to sit around the coffee table in the living room. Ben joined them and laid out his manuals before them. "These books detail my magical power," he said. "Particularly this one." He tapped the Player's Handbook. "And this is my character sheet and spell list." He put his recreations of the two on the table, beside the handbooks.

"Back when Simon had flubbed his ritual, I had just finished playing a D&D campaign in which I was a level nineteen sorcerer. When the bolt struck me, I was holding the original character sheet and spell list in one hand and my phone with photos of the same in the other. Ever since I came to in the hospital that night, I had all the spells and abilities of my D&D character. And I've advanced to level twenty since then."

Despite all that they've experienced with him, the girls still seemed a bit surprised to hear his explanation of his magical powers.

"So," Krista said, "these books outline your powers?"

Ben nodded and said, "Explicitly."

"If you're a character from Dungeons and Dragons," Raven asked, "shouldn't you have, like, pointy ears, or something?"

Ben laughed and Lisa joined him. "No," he said, "I had played a human whose appearance was a copy of mine, thankfully. If I had played a dwarf, or a halfling, or something, in the campaign, I think my friends would have shat their pants at the transformation. As it was, my appearance had not been changed by the bolt."

Krista picked up his character sheet and spell list and perused them. "Thank you for sharing the truth about your powers, Ben, but I think I need some help with this," she said. "What do all these abbreviations and numbers mean?"

Ben sat down and patiently explained every segment of his character sheet, along with giving context for the numerical values given. The girls nodded along with his explanations, but he could see that the D&D mechanics went right over the heads of Raven and Krista.

"Lisa," Ben asked, "do you have any experience with D&D?"

"A little. My friends tried to get me to join their game once, but I wasn't really into it."

Ben nodded in appreciation of her honesty and then looked at Krista and Raven. "You two look disappointed," he said.

They both raised their eyebrows in affected surprise. "What do you mean," Krista asked.

"I mean that you seem to be downright despondent at the fact that the sorcerer, who was your master, not only plays Dungeons and Dragons, but his powers also stem from the books. I can practically see it on your faces. Just by revealing these books to you, I went from the coolest guy on Earth to a dweeb that needs a lot of work to be made presentable." He raised his hand at their protests. "Don't bother denying it! Do me the fucking courtesy of being honest with me, at the very least."

"That's simply not true, Ben," Raven protested.

Ben shot her a look. She blushed and shut up. He shook his head to himself and said, "I can't fucking believe how big a social stigma is attached to so fun a game as Dungeons and Dragons."

"Look," Krista said, "what's done is done." She gestured at the books. "Is this the coolest kind of magic there is? No. But it's the only kind of magic we've got. So let's forget about these books and focus instead on how we are going to fight the... we seriously need a name for the bad guys. Or girls."

Ben crossed his arms and drew his brow down. On the one hand, he was pleased that the girls respected him enough to be honest about their feelings towards D&D. On the other, he was a little miffed that his glad hobby lessened him in their eyes.

"We shall call whoever is trying to activate the portal," Ben declared, "the enemy. That word covers just about every possibility." The girls nodded at his declaration, accepting the new designation. "And the way we shall prepare for the battle with the enemy is by playing D&D!"

The girls' mouths dropped open and they all drew breath at the same time to start complaining as one.

He raised his hand and voice as he said, "No! I don't wanna hear about it! These books detail my magical powers and spells and combat abilities. The three of you shall read them, cover to cover, and know all there is to know about my abilities before you can give me any advice on how to best fight the enemy. Actually, we'll all be playing D&D with my friends come September, when they come back to school."

The girls started another round of complaints, which Ben utterly ignored.

"We'll start with some light campaigning right away, so you don't embarrass me," he said, emphasizing the word "embarrass", "in front of my friends."

Krista and Raven gasped and looked offended at the mere suggestion that they might be the source of embarrassment. Lisa simply settled down and looked to be accepting Ben's decision.

"During play with my friends," Ben said, ignoring their almost red-faced rage, "I will pick their brains for ideas on how to fight best as a dragon. If you girls show enough common sense at the D&D table, you'll be allowed to advise me on those tactics, as well."

Krista bit back her comment and crossed her arms over her chest. "And if we don't," she asked. "What then? You go off and fight the enemy all alone? Like now? Forgive me, Ben, but that seems like a surefire way to lose." She flashed him a tight smile and held up a hand. "I mean no disrespect for you, or your D&D... friends. I only speak from past experience."

Ben gave her a sour grin and said, "No. I shall not be going in all alone, come March. Not if I can help it." He rose and went to the media center. He rummaged through his drawer of Blu-ray discs and returned to the table with four titles in his hands. "I'll be bringing some help with me. Help inspired by these films." He set the boxes down on the table.

Krista picked them up and read the movie titles as she shuffled them in her hands, "Iron Man. Iron Man Two. Iron Man Three, and, let me guess, Iron M-ah, no. This one is titled Avengers." Ben sighed and wondered if he would live long enough to see Age of Ultron. Krista set the boxes down on the table. "What the hell kind of help is in these movies?"

"Iron Man suits," Ben said. "I intend to make them with my magic and put some people I can trust inside them. Then I won't be all alone when I face the enemy. I'll have backup. Or at least some people that can sneak around back and rescue the would-be sacrifice while I duke it out with the enemy."

"Have you thought about bringing actual reinforcements," Krista asked.

"Of course I did," Ben said. "My wish is to bring the full might of the US military with me and surround those islands. I don't want to risk a single one of the enemy getting away during the fight and forcing us to dread at every single eclipse that happens over solid ground in the future. But how the hell am I supposed to do that? I don't think it would be a good idea for me to just teleport to the White House lawn and declare myself. I don't know how the government would react to that. To me."

"Can't you just read their minds," Raven asked.

"Not really," he said. "I can only read surface thoughts. I can't direct them. I can't make people think about what I want to know. If I could just read every mind as I wished, I'd be out doing it right now and I wouldn't stop until I found the enemy and destroyed them. But, I can't do that. It's not how the power works. On top of that, I'm really scared of the enemy learning of who I am and what I can do before we meet in open battle. If that happened, then the enemy would likely try to assassinate me to ensure their success. At the very least, they'd be able to make specific preparations against me."

"I figured as much," Krista said. She picked up the remote and turned on the TV, selecting a recording she made yesterday. "Luckily for you, I've thought up of a way around all that."

She played the recording. It was of a young, female journalist interviewing a general in the National Guard, mostly regarding the zombie outbreak and how the public is to help in dealing with the threat. Ben watched and listened for a few minutes, but then lost patience with the platitudes the officer was spouting and turned to Krista with a frown.

She smiled and said, "The order of the day seems to be to have all senior military personnel flood the airwaves. My guess is that the people in charge think it's the best way to stop a mass outbreak of panic. Raven and I disguise ourselves as journalists and go around interviewing people in charge. We ask them questions that would make them think about things, things like magic, and you read their minds to learn if they might be willing to join us."

Ben thought about it for a few seconds and said, "That's a brilliant idea!" Krista smiled a beaming smile. Raven joined in, but Lisa looked angry.